The Stained Red Road

Silent owls watch

as midnight fades from black

and all the drunks squint their eyes

and hastily scatter off the streets

Silent eyes are looking

as he sneaks out of the room

and starts the car

and waits to turn the lights on until he’s

down the block

Silent lights illuminate

as the black streets rise to a color of dark gray

early workers close their eyes as their cars

drive them through the ghostly highways

“windows down and snooze”

Silent ghosts are listening

to the dreary morning radio

droning on about the upcoming day

the first day of school for children

“the weather is very weather today”

Silent children laugh

as they walk to the bus stop

lunchboxes clenched in their tiny fists

thanking god for moms who pack gourmet lunches

(today it’s peanut butter and jelly

with fruit snacks on the side)

And silent gods aren’t caring

as one child crosses the road

and the tired driver’s eyes close

and the ghosts gasp

and the owls fly away

and the blaring lights travel

down the stained red road

About the Poem

“The Stained Red Road” was written in 2014, originally as an assignment for a creative writing class. It was then published in the Fall 2015 issue of Reconstructed, Governors State University's journal of arts and literature.